Good Samaritan Introduces Digital Mammography In the Fight Against

Breast Cancer

(December 1, 2007) – Women who undergo routine mammograms at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, Pottsville, now have the latest diagnostic technology available to them - digital mammography.  Digital mammography is fast becoming the gold-standard for breast cancer detection.

Digital mammograms are offered in the Radiology Department at the main Medical Center in Pottsville and can be scheduled by calling 570-621-4052.  The entire mammography suite has been renovated to accommodate this new technology.  The new suite includes private dressing areas and a comfortable woman-only waiting room.

Good Samaritan strives to deliver the highest quality care to the patients by offering the most advanced technologies available. After evaluating the various options for introducing digital mammography to the Medical Center, the Selenia™ digital mammography system from Hologic® was selected based on its image quality, patient safety and a number of features that distinguish Selenia from other digital systems, including:

• The use of an amorphous selenium, direct conversion detector. This technology produces incredibly sharp digital images by completely eliminating the image-degrading effects of light diffusion found on other digital mammography systems. This direct capture technology offers improved visibility of the breast, particularly near the skin line, the chest wall and in women with dense breast tissue.
• The system’s 24 x 29 cm field of view accommodates almost all breast sizes with a single exposure and is the only system available with this feature.
• Incorporation of digital Computer-Aided Detection (CAD). Digital CAD highlights characteristics commonly associated with breast cancer. When activated, it flags abnormalities to help the radiologist detect early breast cancer. CAD is, in essence, a second set of eyes to support and enhance the radiologist's judgment.

Digital mammography is different from conventional mammography in how the image of the breast is viewed and, more importantly, manipulated by the radiologist. The radiologist can magnify the images, increase or decrease the contrast and invert the black and white values while reading the images. These features allow the radiologist to evaluate microcalcifications and focus on areas of concern.

Digital mammography feels identical to conventional screening from a patient’s perspective, though women may notice shorter exam times.  Digital images can be viewed in seconds allowing the mammographer to confirm proper positioning. Good Samaritan’s digital mammography images will be easily stored and transferred electronically as they will be fully integrated with the Medical Center’s Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS). 

Digital mammography compliments the hospital’s existing radiology services including High-Definition Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Open MRI, Computerized Tomography (CT Scan), Position Emission Tomography/CT (PET/CT Scan), bone density scanning (DXA), interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, and x-ray.